Once A Winchester, Always a Winchester
by babyicequeen666
Summary: Stubborn. Smart. Quick witted. Child-like innocence. Sam and Dean Winchester find themselves protecting their 16 year old baby sister, Eris Lily Winchester, from more than just the family killing demon. More summary inside.
1. Prologue

**Once a Winchester, Always a Winchester**

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any of the Supernatural as they are the property of Eric Kripke. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

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**Summary:**Life is always full of wonders and surprises. Life is also always full of truths and lies. For 16 year old Eris Lily Winchester, she's about to get a taste of both sides of the track. Raised by only her mother in a small little town in California, Eris seems to live a normal life of working at the town's local library and hanging out with her friends. Living the life of a typical teenager. But that all changes when she begins showing signs of psychic ability and weird things begin to happen to her town. It doesn't help matters when her mother suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving Eris in the hands of two strangers who are in search of their father. What she doesn't know is that these two brothers are connected to her in more ways than she will ever know. How far is she willing to rely on the brothers when secrets and lies of her family put her into severe danger? Can the brothers keep their baby sister safe from the evil that lurks in the Simms family heritage while trying to find their father?

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**Author's Note****:** Hey everyone. I know I'm still in the middle of finishing the last chapter or so of Slightest Touchbut I couldn't help but get this story posted that I've been agonizing over that last couple of days. I've been thinking about this story for a couple of days and I think it's another one that you will absolutely enjoy. It does follow the episode sequence starting with the "Pilot," but there will be a lot of different things in this story that will make it so much more different than the trilogy I'm working on at the moment. So I hope you enjoy this story as much as you do my other one, which I'm on the verge of finishing and will be up very soon (there is so much detail that has to go into it at the moment to make it excellent). Reviews and criticism are welcomed because it only makes me a better author. So enjoy!

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**Prologue**

"I'm not going to let the son of a bitch get away if I can get a trail on him! I don't need him coming for my family a second time! I don't see what is so hard to understand about this!"

"You're not thinking clearly about this, John! You can't keep dragging those boys from motel room to motel room across the states! They should be in a consistent schooling system and home cooked meals instead of fast food and stuff that comes in cans! And Eris may only be a week old, but she needs a father in her life! Not some guy who comes and goes with his sons!"

"I understand your concerns, Natalie, but I don't want this stupid son of a bitch coming after my little girl and killing her mother like he did Mary! Now I'm sorry if you don't understand this, but it's for the best!"

"No! It's not for the best, John! It's not the best for anyone, especially Eris! I won't have you putting her through the same thing you are putting Dean and Sam through right now! It's not fair to her!"

"Until this demon is gone for good, Natalie, it's going to continue to hurt other families and possibly you and Eris! When she's old enough to understand, I want her to know what's out there hiding in the dark! She…."

"She is only a week old and has many years to go before she will be able to understand anything that you're putting your boys through. I don't want any of this for her and I will not let you corrupt her into the world of hunting. I want her to grow up like a normal little girl who likes dolls and tea parties. Who wants to wear make-up and date boys when she reaches her teenage years. I don't want her to know how to throw knives or shoot guns. I don't want her to be afraid of werewolves and spirits and things that can hurt you. I won't allow it to happen." John Winchester stood with an angry expression upon his face as Natalie Simms glared at him from across the island in the kitchen where they had been arguing for the past half hour. He couldn't believe that this woman was arguing with him over something that had harmed his family once and could possibly do it again now that the newest member of the family had arrived just a week ago.

"This is not up for negotiation, Natalie. This…."

"Like hell it isn't! This is my daughter you're talking about subjecting to this bullshit!"

"It's my daughter as well, Natalie! I won't…." But the yelling ceased as strong cries erupted from the moment sitting nearby on a counter, signaling that the youngest member of the family was awake. With a sigh, Natalie Simms pushed herself away from the counter and headed upstairs to the nursery. Pushing the door open, she froze in slight fear when she saw a figure in the rocking chair gently rocking back and forth as the sounds of her daughter were becoming nothing more than slight whimpers.

"Shh…it's alright. Big brother Dean is here." The whimpers of the infant were barely there as she quietly leaned against the bedroom door and watched as John's 10 oldest son gently rocked his baby sister back to sleep.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. Big brother Dean is going to take care of you and protect you just like I do with Sammy. I won't let anything bad hurt you. I promise." Leaning against the wall outside of the nursery, Natalie let out a sigh and shut her eyes as the words from both Winchesters floated through her mind. She knew that John Winchester was not going to stick around for long no matter what valuable item or person was sitting right in front of his eyes. He was on a mission and not even an innocent little girl was going to keep him grounded.

"How I fell for him I will never know," she thought as she let out another sigh. Soft singing from within the nursery reached her ears and she held back tears threatening to spill. She couldn't do this. She couldn't subject her daughter to the cruel and harsh reality that John was putting his boys through every day. She couldn't. She had enough on her hands with her own family heritage and worrying about her daughter being apart of it. But she wouldn't tell John that. No. She wasn't going to put her daughter through it. Looking back into the nursery, she watched as Dean gently kissed the top of Eris' head before placing her into the bassinet.

"I can't do this," she murmured before she turned and walked toward her bedroom. No. She wasn't going to put her daughter through it no matter how much John or Dean or even Sam could protect her. Her own family was enough and the life of a hunter was just not how she wanted her life to go. Not for her and definitely not for Eris. She was going to leave as soon as John left with the boys and hope that he didn't try to find her because if he did, she was going to fight him tooth and nail for the normality of their daughter that he wouldn't give his sons. Looking out the bedroom window to the dark figure that she could make out as John Winchester, she sighed.

"I'm sorry John. This is for the best," she whispered before pulling away and walking toward the closet to pack. She was going to keep her daughter safe and raise the best she could by herself in a good environment. Normality was an understatement and she knew it, but she would be damned if she didn't try.

No matter what the cost was.


	2. Chapter 1: Pilot

**Once a Winchester, Always a Winchester**

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural as they are the property of Eric Kripke. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary:** Life is always full of wonders and surprises. Life is also always full of truths and lies. For 16 year old Eris Lily Winchester, she's about to get a taste of both sides of the track. Raised by only her mother in a small little town in California, Eris seems to live a normal life of working at the town's local library and hanging out with her friends. Living the life of a typical teenager. But that all changes when she begins showing signs of psychic ability and weird things begin to happen to her town. It doesn't help matters when her mother suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving Eris in the hands of two strangers who are in search of their father. What she doesn't know is that these two brothers are connected to her in more ways than she will ever know. How far is she willing to rely on the brothers when secrets and lies of her family put her into severe danger? Can the brothers keep their baby sister safe from the evil that lurks in the Simms family heritage while trying to find their father?

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**Pilot**

"In other news, the car of Troy Squire was found on the Centennial Highway bridge this morning by a morning jogger, who alerted authorities when she discovered Squire nowhere to be seen and no evidence in a sign of struggle or a fight. Authorities are baffled and have given no indication to what may be the cause of the disappearance. Troy is the 5th male victim to disappear along the Centennial Highway in the last couple of months in the same manner that…."

"You would think that they would have caught the killer by now since the victims are all dying the same way."

"You don't know that they're dead."

"Mom, I may only be 16 years old and not know much about killing people like these serial killers do or know much about the legal system in finding killers, but I'm not stupid when it comes to knowing that these people disappearing along Centennial Highway are actually dead. The news reporter just said that the jogger saw no sign of Troy. The same with all the other victims. They disappeared within the last couple of months with not as much as a ransom note in sight. They're dead." A sigh and a shake of the head told me that I had made my case to my mother and had won.

"Sometimes I wonder about how you became so smart. Definitely not from my side of the family," she said as she set a plate of eggs, sausage, and hash browns in front of me before making her own plate and sitting across from me at the kitchen table. I gave her a grin before shoving a forkful of hash brown in my mouth.

"Mrs. Greer called this morning and has asked for you to stop by the house on your way home from the library for a cup of tea and brownies. She says that it's the least she can do for you since you helped her last week when her cat died. I think she just wants to thank you for the new kitten you got from the shelter to keep her company," she said, causing me to nod.

"I was planning on stopping by anyways. Had extra material from the collar I made Rain last week and made Mrs. Greer's new kitten one. Figured I would drop it by the house so that Mrs. Greer can parade her kitten around town like she does with her cats," I said, causing my mom to chuckle and shake her head.

"You're a good girl, Artemis. 16 and already graduated out of high school, you go out of your way to help everyone in this town, and you're the sweetest little girl a mother could ask for. Too bad your father didn't stick around long enough to see this," she said, causing me to chuckle.

"You did great on your own, mom, and it's his fault for not being here. I'd love to stay and have this enlightened conversation further, but I've got to get to the library before Liz gets too overwhelmed by bodies wanting to check out books," I said as I stood from the table and rinsed off my plate before placing it in the dishwasher and drying my hands. My mom gave me a rather odd look, causing me to give her a grin as she caught on to the joke and laughed.

"Only people like you love to spend their weekends working at the library. Don't forget to tell Liz that I'll be sending you with my blueberry pie tomorrow for her since I didn't have time to make it during the week for her birthday. I know how much she loves my blueberry pie. And make sure you stop by the produce store on your way home to pick up those fresh tomatoes Larry got in this week. I've already called him up to tell him you would be there once you were done helping out Liz and he's put aside four of his freshest ones," she said, causing me to roll my eyes as I grabbed my bag and kissed her on the cheek.

"I won't forget. I will see you for dinner. Rain!" I yelled as I kissed my mother once more before leaving the kitchen with a sharp whistle. "Down, Rain," I said as I pushed slightly at the heavy body against me, kissing her nose It was about two seconds before the thunderous sound of Rain's body could be heard as I turned into the foyer where the stairs were. I let out a laugh as my 200 pound white Bengal tiger jumped at me, nearly knocking me over in want of affection.

"Down, Rain," I said, giving her nose a kiss and shoving her off my body before opening the door and heading outside with her at my side. Shouts of good morning and hellos came from my neighbors as they did their yard work or sat upon their porches gossiping. I waved hello and continued on my way to the library, which was a good 15 minute walk from my house. I really didn't mind it. Unlike some of the normal kids my age, I preferred walking places instead of driving, especially in this small town of Jericho where cars weren't exactly necessary unless you were working outside of town or traveling. I was a pretty average teenager. For the most part anyways. I was only 16 years old and I had just recently graduated from high school being the top person of my class and several ready scholarships to just about every school around the country. Everyone in town was ecstatic for me.

"Thank goodness you're here. The library is just too full of people." I let out a laugh as I walked into the library to see Liz typing away on one of the front desk computers while periodically watching the few people that were actually in the library.

"I can see that. Have they tried to kill each other to be first in line to be checked out?" I asked as I set my bag on the floor and gave her a look. She merely chuckled in response and gave Rain a pet on the head.

"It's rather quiet today minus the few people who are coming and going. You might be able to leave early today," she replied, causing me to nod and whistle quietly for Rain as I began to pull a cart full of books from behind the counter.

"Sounds good to me. Oh. Mom told me to tell you that she will be sending me with her delicious blueberry pie for you tomorrow since she wasn't able to make one this week for your birthday," I said, causing her to give me a nod before I walked away toward the many large book cases full of books. Although I wasn't exactly paid for the library work I was doing, I liked helping out because it kept me out of trouble. Don't get me wrong. I loved hanging out with my friends and being a normal teenager, but I liked to keep myself out of trouble as well. It's the least I can do for everything my mom had done for me growing up.

It's always been my mom and me ever since I was born. Sure I had a father, but she never talked about who he was or what he did or even why he left us. She basically told me that he left in the middle of the night when I was about a week old and never came back. I know there's more to the story than just that, but considering everything she's done for me to make sure I had everything I wanted growing up, I didn't ask and I probably won't ever ask. It had always been myself, my mom, and Rain in this small town. My mom had gotten her when she was just a cub when I was about 2 or 3 years old and I have had her ever since then. I really don't know how my mom came to be able to get her, especially since I hadn't really heard of someone having a wild animal as a pet before in the states, but I loved Rain too much to question. At first most of the town was skeptical about having the tiger in the town at first, but they seemed to get use to the idea since Rain never showed any signs of aggressiveness unless it came to protecting me. She was quite affectionate and loving.

"Uh….excuse me?" I was broken out of my thoughts and turned my head slightly to see two guys standing at the end of the aisle looking a bit nervous as they glanced between me and behind me. Looking back, I saw Rain stretched out on the floor with her eyes pinned curiously on the two guys.

"She's not going to attack you. She's pretty affectionate. Is there something I can help you with?" I asked as I petted Rain on the head before putting the last few books on the bottom shelf and standing up to look at them. I knew right off the bat that they weren't from town since I knew just about everyone in town and they all knew me. And they really didn't look like small town kind of guys. One was taller than the other, which actually made them a lot taller than I was. I was only 4'8 and these two had to be at least 6 feet tall or even taller than that. Maybe 6'2 for the short one and 6'3 or 6'4 for the other. The tallest guy had brown eyes and seemed to give off a friendly vibe as he gave me a small smile while the other was green eyed and had this bad boy attitude going on, but at the same time a friendly vibe as well. Almost too friendly. Maybe.

"Uh…are you Eris?" the taller one asked.

"Depends on who's asking," I replied as I put more of the books back on the shelves.

"We were told we could find her here. Some locals we talked to say that she seems to be a walking encyclopedia of weirdness, especially on local legends," the other one said, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Walking encyclopedia of weirdness. That's a new one. I'll have to remember that one," I said.

"We were also told that we could find you here with a huge tiger at your side. I'm assuming this is the tiger the locals were talking about," he said, causing me to give him a look.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked, causing the taller one to sigh slightly and give his companion an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry about him. My name is Sam and this is my brother, Dean. We were just talking to some locals about the disappearance of Tony Squire and we heard an interesting tale about the Centennial Highway Bridge just outside town. They said that you would know more about it," the taller one said, causing me to lift an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"We heard it was a supposedly a murder and how a woman hitchhikes along the same 5-mile stretch of road, picking up various men along the way," Dean replied, causing me to snort with laughter and roll my eyes.

"Some of these locals have been living here a lot longer than I have and they still don't the legend," I said, causing Sam to look at me in curiosity.

"So the legend isn't right?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"It's right about the hitchhiking part. That's always been the same for a couple of years now. But it was never a murder that killed the girl up on Centennial Highway Bridge," I replied.

"What was it?" he asked, causing me to give him a suspicious look as I took in some of the questions they were asking me.

"Why are you so interested in knowing this stuff?" I asked, causing them to look at one another before looking at me. Rain sensed something wasn't right and put herself between the three of us with a slight growl that caused the two of them to back up just slightly.

"If you're so interested in the local legend, look it up yourself. I've got work to do. Come on, Rain," I said as I grabbed the book cart and pushed it toward the exit of the aisle. As I made to exit the aisle, Rain let out a ferocious growl, causing me to quickly turn around as Dean nearly fell backwards trying to move away from her as she stood in front of me.

"What are you two trying to do?" I asked as I backed up slightly.

"We just wanted to ask you about the jersey you're wearing. The name on the back," Sam replied just as Liz came around the corner with a concerned look on her face.

"What is going on here? Eris, are you alright?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. Rain just thought these two guys were going to hurt me, but they were just asking a simple question. I'm alright. Don't worry," I replied, causing her to give both Sam and Dean a suspicious look before nodding and casting one last look over at me before returning back to the front desk. Once I knew she wasn't paying attention to me, I turned my attention back to the two brothers in front of me and narrowed my eyes slightly.

"What the hell are you two trying to pull?" I asked.

"The name on the back of the jersey. It yours?" Dean asked, causing me to give him a slightly offended look.

"Of course it's mine. It's my jersey that my mother paid for when I was a freshman at the town high school. I played soccer for the time that I was there. I was even offered a scholarship to play at just about every college all over the United States. So yeah, the jersey is mine and the name on the back of jersey is my last name. What about it?" I asked, causing him to stare at me for a second before speaking.

"Nothing. It's just not a common name. That's all. Come on, Sammy. We've got some researching to do. Nice chatting with you, Eris," he replied before he pulled his brother with him, leaving me very confused. There had never been a spoken word from strangers about my last name other than to ask if it was just like the rifle. Until now that is.

"Weird," I muttered as I watched the brothers take a seat at one of the computers, shaking my head as I pulled the cart down the next aisle. It was definitely too weird.

* * *

"It's absolutely lovely, Eris. Mr. Jingles will absolutely love it. He'll look so dashing in it that he'll be the talk of the town!" I let out a soft chuckle as Mrs. Greer bustled around the living room in search of her new kitten to put the collar I had made on him. I liked being around Mrs. Greer even though she was an elderly woman. Maybe that's because I spent a lot of time with her when my mom had to work two jobs when I was younger to keep us afloat. I had never known my grandparents on either side of my family and I took to her like she was my own grandmother, which she seemed to enjoy as she spoiled me and such like grandmothers do for their grand-daughters.

"And of course I didn't forget a special cookie just for Rain," she said as she held out a cookie like biscuit toward Rain, who gave a nudge of the hand to say thanks before taking the cookie and munching down on it. I politely declined another brownie as I sipped at my tea.

"I must tell you, Eris, that you are one lucky little girl," she said, pouring herself more tea as I gave her a curious look.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because you have a wonderful mother who loves you dearly and a whole town who loves you just as much for all the wonderful things you do for us. You can't get any better than that," she replied, causing me to chuckle.

"Yes, well I wouldn't call it lucky. I don't think luck has anything to do with it," I said.

"You are one very smart girl. I just don't understand why you won't go to college this fall. All the top universities around the country are wanting you for your athletic skills and your brains. Smartest little girl this town has seen in decades of years," she said, causing me to sigh just slightly.

"I just don't think that college is right for me at this time. Too big and too noisy. Too many drunks and not enough nice people like this small town. I like simple and quiet. But maybe in another year or two when I feel that I am really ready to go. Besides, I don't think any university would want me when they discover that they have to take both me and Rain or it's no deal," I said, nuzzling my nose against hers with a giggle.

"They would have a hard time competing with that. But I should be sending you on your way home. I know how your mother gets when you're late for dinner. Tell her to send some of her blueberry pie my way the next time she makes it and you be careful going home. It's getting a bit dark out," she said, causing me to nod as I gave her a hug before heading out and heading toward my house. The sun was starting to set and it was slightly breezy outside, which was nice. However, the soft growl of Rain caught my attention and I looked to find her in the prowling position, causing me to stop and give her a look.

"What's the matter, girl?" I asked as I looked around to find nothing really out of the ordinary, but Rain in prowling position meant that she could see or sense something that I couldn't. However, the sight of a black car parked somewhat down the street caught my attention and I swallowed slightly as I got the creepy feeling that whoever was in that car was watching me.

"Come on, Rain," I said before I set back to getting home. Thank god I was only a few minutes from my house because when I reached the porch, I turned around to see the black car speed off down the street, which gave me the slight chills as I quickly made my way into the house and locked the door. Was someone following me? And if they were, what for?

"Creepy things have been happening, Rain, and I don't like it," I said as I double checked to make sure the door was locked before heading into the kitchen where I completely stopped in my tracks at the sight of the kitchen. It was completely wrecked with dishes thrown all over the place from the cabinets and tonight's dinner on the floor. It was like someone had ransacked the kitchen or something.

"Mom?!" I called out as I quickly left the kitchen in search of my mom. This wasn't like my mom to not come get me when something bad happened. And why hadn't the neighbors heard something and come to investigate or something.

"Mom?! Mom, where are…." But I let out a whimper and nearly fell down the stairs as I stumbled slightly, a searing pain ripping through my head.

"_Take me home."_

"_No."_

I let out a cry and clutched at my head as I saw a guy in a car sitting in front of an abandoned house.

"_Don't do this."_

"_I can never go home."_

"_You're scared to go home," the guy said as he looked into his rearview mirror at the chick sitting in the back, but she merely appeared next to him and tried to attack him._

"_Hold me. I'm so cold," she said as she tried to cuddle or caress him into holding her._

"_But you can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been," he said._

"_But you will be. Just hold me," she said before kissing him. She seemed to kiss him for a few seconds before he let out a yell as she appeared in and out, grasping at his chest with her hand. It was only a few seconds before she pulled his heart completely out of the body and splattered it all over the inside of the car, leaving the car to gasp for air as he died._

"No!" I screamed, hitting my head against the railing of the stairs as I violently gasped for air. My head was pounding as I struggled to stand, ignoring the concern of Rain as I pushed her away from me to give me some room. What the hell was that? I just saw some guy dying in my mind, almost like a vision or something. But those things weren't real. There was no such things as people being able to have visions or psychic powers. Especially not me.

"Artemis, are you alright?" My head snapped up, despite the severe pounding it was going through, to see Mrs. Greer standing at the bottom of the stairs with a concerned look on her face. Rain was growling just slightly, but I think it was just because of what had just happened to me, which caused me to wave it off just a little bit.

"I'm ok. Just a little bit of a dizzy spell. How did you get in?" I asked.

"The front door was unlocked. I heard screaming and came to investigate," she replied, causing me to give her a strange look as I looked to the open front door before looking back at her "concerned" looking face. I know I remembered locking the front door and nobody but my mom and I had a key. Something wasn't right.

"Is everything ok?" My head snapped from Mrs. Greer to Mrs. Henderson, who was my next door neighbor, as she stood at the threshold of the house. Something wasn't right about this situation as she too had a creepy concern look on her face.

"Everything is fine. You can all go home now," I said.

"Not likely. The kitchen is a mess. Where's your mama, girlie?" I started backing away up the stairs as one of the local deputies came around the corner from the kitchen to give me a look. Nobody in this town called me girlie.

"Come on now, Eris. Don't be so afraid. We just want to talk to you," Mrs. Greer said, her eyes turning pitch black, causing Rain to let out a ferocious growl as I turned and ran up the stairs to my room. I slammed the door shut as I heard footsteps and struggled to tip over the book case against the wall by the door, causing me to back away from the door as I heard pounding on the other side of the door.

"Now, now, Eris. Be a good girl and open up the door. We promise we won't hurt you like your poor little kitty." I swallowed a sob at her words about Rain and wanted to open the door to tear her apart, but I knew I couldn't stay here and who knew what they did to my mom. They weren't the same people they were earlier in the day. Throwing open my window, I struggled with the screen until I broke it through just enough for me to get through.

"Eris! You open this door right now!" I let out a scream as the door busted open just as I crawled out the window and to the edge of the roof. Peering over the side, I knew it was not a long way down, but I knew I could get hurt if I jumped.

"Come here, Eris." I turned my head to see Mrs. Greer's head sticking out the window with those pitch black eyes, causing me to shake my head and take the jump. I landed on my feet with slight force, which caused me to tumble and roll, before looking back to the house where Mrs. Henderson and the deputy were starting to come out the door. I didn't think twice and took off running, not caring where my legs took me as long as they took me away from the weirdness that was happening at my house. I looked back slightly to see the deputy chasing after me, my eyes widening as I saw him gaining speed. As I turned my head back around to see where I was going, I skidded to a stop and twisted my body away from the lights that came upon me all too quick. The sound of tires skidding across the pavement of the road caused me to look up slightly to see the same black car from earlier stopped just inches in front of me. With the two guys from the library in it.

* * *

**Sam's POV**

"So she definitely doesn't want us digging around, which allows us to know that she is the one making all these men disappear along that 5 mile stretch of road."

"Yeah, well she's definitely dead when I see her again. We might as well just check into a motel and see what else we can dig up on ol' Constance." I nodded and turned my gaze back to the road as Dean pulled away from the bridge where Constance tried to run us off. It apparently didn't work, but it was pretty funny in a way since Dean was covered head to toe in mud from having jump from the bridge into the murky water below it. This whole job was starting to get to me just a little bit and….

"Dean! Look out!" I yelled as a figure darted in front of Impala, causing Dean to slam down on the breaks pretty hard. I watched as the figure seemed to become aware of the car and twisted her body in such a way to try and avoid as much impact as possible, but I only let out a sigh of relief when the car stopped just inches in front of her.

"What the hell is your problem, kid?" Dean asked as he got out of the car, causing me to groan as I realized this could be a problem and got out of the car myself. I made to intervene on the kid's behalf, but I stepped back in shock when the girl from earlier at the library looked at us in shock.

"Eris?" I asked with slight caution as I didn't want a repeat of the library and I definitely didn't want to frighten her anymore than what she already appeared to be, whether it was from earlier when I know she saw the Impala kind of trailing her home or whether it was from something else.

"Stop!" She let out a scream and made to take off, but I grabbed her around the waist to keep her from running from the cop that was closing in.

"No! Let me go!" she yelled as she struggled to get out of my grip.

"Dean…"

"Sam, get in the car," he said as he started moving toward the driver side door quickly.

"De…"

"Now! Her too!" he bellowed, causing me to pick up the tiny struggling female body and throw her into the front seat of the Impala before slamming the door shut just as Dean hit the gas. The deputy, who had somehow gotten to the Impala by that time, jumped onto the hood of the car, which caused Eris to scream and bury herself into my side. Dean merely slammed on the breaks, causing the guy to go rolling off, before putting the car into reverse and heading back in the direction we had just come. Glancing back through the rear window, I saw the deputy slowly stand.

"Dean, is that guy…"

"Yeah. Is she alright?" he asked, nodding his head to the female that was shaking like a leaf against my side.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling not so much. Hey. Eris, look at me," I said as I gently pulled her face out of my shoulder in order to get her to look at me. Her bright icy green eyes were filled with so many emotions all wrapped up together behind the tears that were slowly starting to run down her face. There was no doubt that she was frightened and had no idea what had just happened.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I just saw Mrs. Greer not even ten or fifteen minutes before she showed up at my house. I know that the front door was locked," she replied, causing me to give a sigh and look over at my brother. There was no way that we could tell her that the deputy that was chasing her, and probably even the elderly Mrs. Greer, had been possessed.

"And Rain…." But her voice trailed off as she buried her face back into my shoulder, the fabric becoming wet as I realized that she was crying more. My brother gave me a puzzling look, which I didn't blame him for since I was just as puzzled, until I realized that the tiger that had been by her side the entire time that we saw her was not even with her when Dean nearly ran her over.

"I'm sure Rain is alright," I said as I looked to my brother for help. Although I was use to female antics such as this having been with Jess for the last three years, this was a little bit awkward for me because there was something bugging me about her. When I had questioned Dean about it earlier after the confrontation about "Winchester" being on the back of the jersey that she was still wearing at this point, he seemed to have suspicions but had yet to talk to me about it. It was just all too familiar with her clinging to me, but I just couldn't place the thought.

"We'll go to the outskirts of town to get a motel and once we get a lead on what we're dealing with, we'll take her home and see what's going on. I would think it's too dangerous at this point to take her home with it being so dark and the lovely neighbors trying for her head," Dean said, causing me to nod. There was no way that we could let her go home at this point in time, but I was just a little bit worried about her being with us with the whole Constance and Centennial Highway Bridge thing.

"What did you fall in?" I couldn't help but let out a laugh as Eris seemed to manage a question through her tears as she brought her head out of my shoulder to give Dean a look. He merely glared at her and turned his attention back to the road. By day break, Dean pulled into a motel just outside the town after spending most of the night driving around to another city or so to throw off suspicion just in case someone said something or the people that were no longer possessed raised questions, especially if Eris' home was wide open and no one was home. She was nestled into the side of me sleeping and looked so peaceful and innocent like a child. For now.

"Come on. Let's go get a room, get cleaned up, and then we'll talk strategy and figure out what we can do about her," Dean said as he shut the car off and got out, leaving me to wake up her. I gently shook her until her eyes slowly opened and focused on me.

"Morning," I said with a slight laugh as I helped her balance herself out once she had gotten out of the car.

"Where are we?" she asked sleepily as she looked around.

"We're going to check into a motel so that we can get cleaned up and help you out after last night's events," I replied as I guided her toward the reception building where my brother was waiting. She seemed to understand as she nodded and gave a yawn, causing me to chuckle and shake my head.

"One room please," Dean said as he dropped a credit card onto the receptionist's desk. The elderly man picked it up and looked at it before looking at us.

"You guys having a reunion or something?" he asked, causing me to give him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That other guy, Burt Aframian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month," he replied, causing Dean and I to look at one another.

"Do you know which room he's staying in?" I asked, causing the gentleman to nod and give us the room number before we thanked him and walking back out the door.

"You think…."

"No doubt," Dean replied as we started walking toward the room number.

"Didn't you guys want a room?" Eris asked as she gave us confused looks as to why we didn't get the room like we had said we were going to.

"Yeah, but our dad seems to have already gotten it for us," he replied as I knelt in front of the door and picked the lock while Dean stood watch to make sure no one stopped us for looking suspicious. Eris made to say something but decided against it as she rubbed her eyes, causing me to wonder if she wasn't really going to ask a whole lot of questions after what happened last night. She didn't really talk after asking Dean what he had fell in once we rescued her from her possessed neighbors, but that still didn't stop Dean and I from wondering what had happened and what was going on in the town. As I pushed the door open, my eyes widened at the state of the room and yanked both Dean and Eris into the room before slamming the door shut.

"Whoa," she said as she also took in the state of the room. I glanced at her for a second as she stared at some things on the wall, but turned my attention to the salt line that had been drawn in the middle of the room.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple of days, at least," Dean said.

"Salt. Cat's eye shells. He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in," I said as he looked at me before he walked toward the far side of the motel room to look at the wall.

"Who was here? And what kind of nut are they?" Eris asked as she turned to look at me.

"Our dad. He was here but now he seems to be kind of missing. What have you got there?" I asked as I turned my attention back to my brother.

"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it. They're different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities, etc. I mean, there's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" he asked. I glanced over to another wall and let my eyes wander until I came upon a small sign above the same article that Dean and I had found in the library yesterday. Flipping on the small lamp, I saw that it said "Woman in White" and a couple of pictures that showed women in white dresses.

"Dad figured it out," I said, causing Dean to look over me with confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He found the same article that we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white," I replied, causing Eris to tilt her head slightly at the picture as she came to stand next to me.

"Her husband lives in town," she said, causing me to give her a look.

"How do you know that?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"I know everyone in this town and they all know me. Besides, I'm a walking encyclopedia of weirdness, remember? I know the legend. And what are you guys so interested in it for anyways? You do realize that these things on the wall make you and your dad look very suspicious?" she asked, causing me to sigh and run a hand through my hair as I gave my brother a look.

"Uh…yeah. Anyways, if we're dealing with a Woman in White, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it," he said, slightly ignoring her.

"She might have another weakness," I said, causing him to shake his head and walk toward me.

"No. Dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up. Does it say where she was buried?" he asked.

"No, not that I can tell. If I were dad, though, I'd go ask the husband. If he's still alive," I replied, causing Eris to throw her hands up as we looked at her.

"What?" Dean asked as he gave her a slightly annoyed look.

"Did you two not just hear me say that the husband is still alive? He lives in town. And who are you guys? I should really be calling the cops on you two for this and talking of grave desecration," she replied, causing Dean to snort with laughter as he headed toward the bathroom.

"And tell them what? That two strangers saved you from three of your neighbors whose eyes were pitch black like night. That were chasing you down and possibly trying to hurt you? Who's going to believe you if they deny it? Isn't it usually a rule that you don't argue with your elders?" he asked.

"Dean!" I exclaimed as I gave him a glare. He merely ignored me and kept his eyes fixed on Eris. She gave him a glare but didn't say anything, causing him to smirk in satisfaction.

"Thought so. Sam, why don't you see if you can get an address out of Miss Thing over there while I go get myself cleaned up," he said, causing me to sigh before I remembered something and stopped him.

"Hey Dean. About what I said earlier about mom and dad? I'm sorry and…."

"No chick flick moments. Get the address out of the girl," he said as he stopped me from finishing my sentence before heading into the bathroom and shutting the door. I gave a chuckle and sat down on the bed and watched as Eris peered out the window while watching me through the glass.

**Eris' POV**

"We're going to get you help as soon as we can talk to the husband of Constance Welch. We might…"

"Your brother seemed to know about the black eyes. How?" I asked as I watched him through the glass of the motel mirror. Even though the curtains were drawn, there was a small opening that let the sunlight in and I couldn't help but peer out it. If need be, I could see both of their movements and could try to bolt if necessary.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He seemed to know that the deputy's eyes last night were black. How?" I asked as I decided that this Sam character wasn't going to do me any harm since he had seemed to protect me from last night's attack. He seemed like a genuine guy concerned for me, but I wasn't about to get all nice and friendly just yet.

"Some girls told us that you seemed to know all about local legends and lore of just about every mythological creature there is. Do you ever believe in some of that stuff?" he asked, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Was he serious?

"I like mythology whether it's Roman and Greek or whether it be something like vampires and werewolves. I find it all fascinating, especially because Eris is the Greek personification of discord and strife," I replied, causing him to chuckle.

"So you became interested in mythology because of your name?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"Eris Lily isn't exactly two names you put together since they're both oxymoron," I replied.

"It's a nice name. A little on the weird side, but it's unique like you seem to be with the fact that you have a white Bengal tiger by the name of Rain as your pet. Very unique. But I'm asking because I want to know if you believe in any of the lore that you've read about vampires and werewolves and anything else you've read," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"They're not real. It's just a bunch of stuff people made up for money and entertainment. So how did he know what I saw last night?" I asked, causing him to sigh and rub at his neck with a nervous chuckle. I stared at him for a second before I shook my head in disbelief.

"Oh my god. Tell me you don't believe in that bullshit," I said as I gave him a look.

"Eris, they were demons," he said.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"What do you know about demon lore?" he asked.

"Not much. I was never interested in it the way I am vampires or werewolves. What does that…."

"Everything. You said yourself that you wanted to know how Dean knew that the deputy's eyes were black last night. Demons possess people and the only way to know that they're possessed is the pitch black eyes. Your neighbors were possessed last night. You can also tell that they're demons because they can do things that normal people wouldn't. Do you remember anything strange last night?" he asked, causing me to think back to last night when I was trying to escape. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as she busted through my…

"The door," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"What door?" he asked.

"Mrs. Greer…"

"The elderly lady?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. She busted through my bedroom door last night just as I escaped out the window. There was a book case preventing from anyone getting into the room, but she got through," I replied. He studied me for a second before sighing as he ran a hand over his face.

"Eris, you're just going to have to trust me when I say that those were demons possessing your neighbors. Now, I don't know what they wanted or why they were trying to get to you, but you can not go back to your house until after Dean and I take care of what we're trying to take care of here. Ok? We'll take you back to your house once that's over. But until then, you're going to have to stick with us," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I can't. I have to go home. My mom is…." But I stopped when I remembered that the kitchen was a mess.

"Eris?" he asked as he gave me a concerned look just as Dean came out of the bathroom.

"The kitchen was a mess when I came home. Cabinets open and dishes thrown everywhere. Dinner was on the floor. I knew something wasn't right then," I replied as Sam looked over at his brother.

"Definitely demons last night at her house. Mom is MIA just like dad it seems," he said, causing Dean to look at me.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Dean asked.

"Yesterday morning at breakfast right before I left for the library. But there was no sign of struggle or anything. The rest of the house was in one piece," I replied, causing him to give me a look before grabbing his jacket.

"Alright. We'll look into it as soon as we can get rid of Constance's spirit. But at the moment, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner down the street. Either of you two hungry?" he asked, causing the both of us to shake our heads before he rolled his eyes and left the motel room.

"Is he always this moody?" I asked, causing Sam to chuckle.

"Uh…yes and no. It's just that our dad is MIA too and we're trying to find him. Your mom disappearing might not be a coincidence. Or it could be. We won't know until Dean and I check out the kitchen for you," he replied, causing me to nod before I sat down next to him on the bed.

"What are you guys?" I asked, causing him to look at me.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You guys seem to know a lot about this stuff. And Dean just said that he wanted to get rid of Constance's spirit. Is she really a spirit that's haunting the Centennial Highway?" I asked, causing him to chuckle before nodding.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, yeah. And we need to find a way to get rid of her before she hurts anyone else. Eris, look. I know it's hard for you to believe in any of this, but it's all true. The demons possessing your neighbors and spirits killing people. It's all real. And we hunt it," he replied, causing me to give him a confused look.

"Who's "we"?" I asked, causing him to sigh.

"Alright. Dean and my dad hunt the supernatural," he replied, causing me to give him another confused look.

"But…"

"I'm only here to help Dean find our dad. Obviously he's been here, so he might still be around. This life style is just not for me. I had to leave Stanford to help Dean out for a few days before I have to go back and continue living my normal life," he said.

"But if you…" But I never got to finish that sentence as Sam's cell phone started to ring, causing him to pick it up. He listened intently for a few minutes, asking questions here and there, before hanging up and standing up to head toward the bathroom, motioning me to follow him as he did so.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I noticed the facial expression on his face.

"Cops are outside and have spotted Dean. Come on. Up you go," he said as he opened the bathroom window and easily hoisted me up so that I could crawl out. As soon as I was out, I turned around and helped Sam pull himself up and out of the bathroom just as the door of the motel was opened.

"Come on. Go," he said as he pushed me slightly away from the motel and into the nearby bushes. Great. Now I was with some guys that were running from the law. Could my day get any worse?

* * *

"Fake 9-1-1 call, Sammy. I don't know. That's pretty illegal."

"He didn't make the call. I did. You're welcome."

"And here I was thinking you were a little saint. Listen, Sammy. We got to talk." I rolled my eyes as Sam chuckled slightly at Dean's sarcasm and adjusted his cell phone that he had put onto speaker. A little saint my ass. Everyone in this town was wrapped around my finger.

"Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a Woman in White. She's buried behind her old house, so that would have been dad's next stop…"

"Sammy, would you shut the fuck up for a minute?" Dean asked with a little bit of annoyance.

"I just can't figure out why he hasn't destroyed the corpse yet," Sam said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"Well that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho," he said, causing me to look at Sam as he stared at his phone in slight confusion.

"What? How do you know?" Sam asked.

"I've got his journal," he replied.

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing," Sam said.

"Yeah, well he did this time," he said.

"What's it say?" Sam asked.

"Ah, that same old ex-Marine shit to let us know where he's going," he replied.

"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied.

"I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that dad would just skip out in the middle of a job. Dean, what the hell is going on? I mean, it's…Whoa!" Sam yelled as he slammed on his brakes, causing me to shriek just slightly as I realized we were going to hit a woman in the middle of the road. However, the car just ran right through the woman and she completely vanished, the car skidding to a complete stop as Dean yelled through his phone at us.

"You alright?" he asked, looking over at me. I merely nodded and took a deep breath before letting out a shriek as I noticed a woman sitting in the back seat through the front window of the Impala.

"Take me home." Sam snapped his head to the rearview mirror to see the same woman I was seeing.

"Take me home."

"No," he said, causing the woman's eyes to narrow slightly before I felt the seat belt in the car becoming undone and the passenger side door to open.

"Eris!" he yelled as he grabbed onto me just one second before I seemed to want to fly out of the car. I could feel the force tugging on me and I let out a cry as I slammed against Sam's body when the bitch realized that Sam wasn't letting me be thrown out of the car. The locks locked in place and the car began to drive itself as Sam tried to bring the locks back up despite having to hold onto me. This day was just getting so much worse.

"Sam…"

"It's alright, Eris. Nothing is going to happen to you. I won't let it," he said as the car came to a stop in front of this old abandoned home, which caused me to stare at it for several seconds before realization hit me. This was the house from the vision I had the day before. Looking behind me to the back seat, I saw that Constance had vanished and before I could turn around and say something to Sam, I was torn from his loose grip and thrown a couple of feet away from the car before the door slammed shut.

"Sam!" I yelled as I tried to get myself up off from the ground. He was the one I saw in my vision having his heart torn out. I couldn't believe I was saying it, but it was about to come true. As I struggled to make my way over to the car to try and help, shots rang off and I hit the ground with a scream. Several more rounds were fired off before the car suddenly came to life and lurched forward toward the house.

"Sam!" I felt myself being picked up and set right by Dean before he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him toward the house that Sam had just driven through. He had a gun drawn and we quickly made our way through the wreckage to where Sam was sitting inside the car.

"Sam, you alright?" Dean asked as he moved to get the passenger side door open.

"Yeah. Where's Eris? She alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Sam," I said as I grabbed onto his other arm to help balance him out. My grip tightened on him just slightly as I saw Constance pick up a picture and look at it before looking over at us and moving out of the way. My eyes widened and before I could do anything, I let out a yell as I found myself pinned to the side of the car. And it hurt having that desk or drawer or whatever it was pinned against you. It was like Rain laying on top of you on purpose.

"Now what?" Dean asked as Constance started toward us. But before we could reply, the lights in the house started flickering and I noticed water starting to trickle down the stairs. I watched as two young children ascended the stairs quickly and launched themselves at the woman, who let out a shriek as she began to disappear. For good. I watched as she became nothing but water against the dusty hardwood floors before Sam and Dean pushed the heavy object off of us and walked over toward where she had disappeared.

"So this is where she drowned her kids," Dean said as Sam nodded.

"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them," he said.

"You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy," Dean said as he hit him in the chest, causing him to laugh out in pain. I stared at the spot where Sammy was standing for a minute before I rubbed my hand over my face. This couldn't be happening. This stuff was not real. I didn't have a vision about Sam dying but then surviving it. Did I? This could not be happening.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Well doesn't this look nice. White picket fence and everything."

"Shut up."

"Dean, this whole place looks deserted. There's no police tape or anything up along the house to indicate a crime scene or something." I turned my head from Eris giving me a glare to see what Sam was talking about. And he was right. The neighborhood was quiet and the front door was still open with no yellow tape or anything over it like there should have been.

"The cops seemed to be ok when they took me into jail. No possession or anything," I said as I cocked my gun and walked in front of her and Sam to make sure everything was safe before they even walked through. There was indeed traces of sulfur along the skirting of the door and some on the floor, but other than that, there was no sound or trace of anyone. Looking into the kitchen, I saw what Artemis had been talking about when she said that no other room had been touched but the kitchen. There was no sign of struggle and by looks of things, her mom had taken off on her own.

"Rain!" I turned from the kitchen and hurried out to the entrance of the house at her shouting and saw her knelt down over the huge white animal. Sam and I watched as she placed her head against the animal's body before seeing her eyes go wide.

"She's alive," she said as she stroked at the face of the animal before looking at us.

"What?" I asked.

"Um….how do you know if someone is possessed?" she asked, causing me to look over at Sam, who nodded to tell me that he had done a little bit of talking to her and that she seemed to understand, or at least was trying to understand, the concept of demons.

"Holy water. If they're possessed, they kind of give off smoke in a sense," I replied as I pulled a flask out of my jacket and dumped it over the tiger. She stared between the animal and myself before giving me a questionable look.

"No smoke, no possession," Sam said, causing her to nod in understanding as she went back to trying to wake it up. Watching her for a second more, I pulled Sam to the side enough to keep an eye on her, but at the same time keeping an eye on her, and took out dad's journal.

"What?" he asked.

"There was also this at the bottom of the page of coordinates," I replied as I flipped to the page with coordinates and handed the journal to him. He stared at it for a second before looking at me.

""Take care of Eris. N.S." What the hell does that mean?" he asked.

"It means that Natalie Simms, Eris' mother, is with dad," I replied, causing him to give me a confused look.

"Ok. So why didn't she just tell her daughter that? And why did she leave her to us?" he asked.

"Because she wants us to take care of our baby sister," I replied. There was about a minute pause before he looked at me with wide eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"Eris is our baby sister," I replied.

"Wait a minute. I would remember if we had a baby sister, Dean. When did this happen?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"16 years ago. Dad met Natalie at one of the bars he was at one night and they seemed to hit it off well. Dad seemed happy enough even though he was still looking for the thing that killed mom. Then Natalie got pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl," I replied as I stuck my hand in my back pocket for my wallet and pulled out a picture to hand to Sam. He stared at it for a moment before looking at me.

"Dean, Sam, and Eris Lily Winchester. May 24th, 1989," he said, causing me to nod.

"Natalie took this picture of us when Eris was just a week old," I said.

"So what happened to her? Why are we just now hearing about it?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"Natalie disappeared when Eris was just a week old. She took Eris with her. I guess she hid herself well because dad was never able to find her and was really hurt when he couldn't," I replied.

"Does Eris know?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. I don't think she should know just yet. Her mom is "missing" and that'll be too much on her. Let's just stick to what we are right now. But we have a responsibility right now to keep her out of harm's way. Those demons were after her and that's not a good thing," I replied.

"You do realize that she's going to put up a fight about that tiger," he said, causing me to glare at him.

"That tiger ain't getting in my car," I said.

"Why would I put her in your car?" We turned around to see Eris giving us confused looks as Rain crouched in a defensive position in front of her, obviously remembering earlier events.

"Um….the rest of the house is untouched except for the kitchen. No signs of struggle or anything that could result in a kidnapping against will. We think your mom might have just left on her own and we're already in search of our dad, so we think it might be wise if you come with us," Sam replied, causing me to give him a look. He merely rolled his eyes before returning his attention back to Eris.

"Sam…"

"Eris, it's not safe here by yourself. Not even with the neighbors. You saw what happened last night. If we can find your mom, we might be able to have her explain to you what's going on," I said, causing her to sigh as I could tell those wheels in her head were turning.

"How long have you had Rain?" Sam asked, causing her to pet the tiger's head with a small smile.

"Since I was 2 years old. She protects me," she replied, causing me to shoot Sam a glare as I knew where this was going.

"No, Sam. No way in hell is that tiger getting into my car," I said, shaking my head.

* * *

"I can't believe I let you talk me into letting that tiger into my car. I'm going to kill you if it ruins the interior of the car."

"The tiger has a name, Dean. You might want to remember it since it's going to be with you for a while." I gave Sam a glare before looking into the rearview mirror where Eris was snuggled against her animal asleep, causing me to shake my head and turn my attention back to the road.

"Ok. So here's where dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado," Sam said.

"Sounds charming. How far?" I asked.

"About 600 miles," he replied.

"If we shag ass, we can make it by morning," I said, causing him to sigh and give me a look.

"Dean, I…."

"You're not going," I said as I realized what was going on.

"The interview's in, like, 10 hours. I gotta be there," he said.

"Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home," I said as I turned my head back to the road. I couldn't believe him. Dad was missing, or at least we think he's missing, and we had just discovered we had a baby sister I thought was long gone years ago, but he was still worried about making that damn interview. A few hours later, I pulled up to the apartment he lived in and he got out.

"You'll call me if you find him? Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" he asked as he looked at me.

"Yeah, all right," I replied with a small hint of sarcasm in my voice.

"Take care of her, Dean," he said as he motioned to our baby sister, who was still fast asleep in the back. Looking back at her and then at him, I nodded and started up the car again before pulling away. However, just as I round the corner, the radio starting flicking in and out of sound as the wind picked up just a little.

"Ahh shit," I muttered as I quickly turned around and headed back toward Sam's apartment building, Eris waking up just slightly from the motion of the car.

"What's going on?" she asked as I made to get out.

"Stay here and don't move. Scream if something happens," I replied, causing her to nod before I quickly got out of the Impala and hurried up to Sam's apartment. Kicking in the door, I heard my brother yelling and I quickly made my way toward him.

"Sam!" I yelled as I made it to the bedroom, only to find my brother's girlfriend pinned to the ceiling in flames just like our mother had been years before.

"No! Jess!"

"Sam! We gotta get out of here!" I yelled as I grabbed onto my brother and started shoving him out the door.

"No! Jess! Jess!" he yelled as the room burst into flames galore. I couldn't believe that this was happening again. And to my little brother. About an hour later, I watched them put the last of the flames out of the apartment building before walking over to where my brother was loading a shot gun and my baby sister was watching him with a worried expression, Rain pressed against her side. Looking at him, he looked at me before cocking the gun and throwing it into the trunk.

"We've got work to do," he said before slamming it shut and making his way over to the passenger side of the car. Looking at me, I noticed that Eris was a bit confused but wasn't opening her mouth to further any confrontation.

"Come on. Get in the car," I said, causing her to nod and get in. Getting in myself, I looked at my little brother and my baby sister before putting the car into drive and peeling out of there. That son of a bitch took my mother and now my brother's girlfriend. I was done with this. No way, especially now that I had to put forth my promise I made 16 years ago to my baby sister, was I going to let it harm another hair on my family's head.

We had work to do.


	3. Chapter 2: Wendigo

**Once a Winchester, Always a Winchester**

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural as they are the property of Eric Kripke. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary:** Life is always full of wonders and surprises. Life is also always full of truths and lies. For 16 year old Eris Lily Winchester, she's about to get a taste of both sides of the track. Raised by only her mother in a small little town in California, Eris seems to live a normal life of working at the town's local library and hanging out with her friends. Living the life of a typical teenager. But that all changes when she begins showing signs of psychic ability and weird things begin to happen to her town. It doesn't help matters when her mother suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving Eris in the hands of two strangers who are in search of their father. What she doesn't know is that these two brothers are connected to her in more ways than she will ever know. How far is she willing to rely on the brothers when secrets and lies of her family put her into severe danger? Can the brothers keep their baby sister safe from the evil that lurks in the Simms family heritage while trying to find their father?

* * *

**Wendigo**

"You know something? Nobody uses cassette tapes anymore to play music. They're always using cds or iPods or something along those lines. You might want to update this box of music before you're arrested for outdated equipment."

"There's a rule in this car, Eris. Driver picks the music and passengers shut their cake holes."

"Did I say anything against your music? No. But then again, you wouldn't know that since you can't seem to read between the lines or whatever. Besides, I like this music just as much as I like the music Sam listens to. Maybe even more so."

"My kind of girl," I said with a chuckle as I glanced into the back seat where my baby sister was nestled against her tiger and looking through my box of cassette tapes. She merely rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue before turning her attention back to the box. Turning my attention back to the road, I made to turn on the radio when Sam bolted up right in his seat, causing me to look over at him with concern as he tried to orient himself to his surroundings.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he replied, causing Eris to snort with slight laughter.

"Liar. It was another nightmare," she said, causing him to turn around and give her a look before looking back ahead at the road without saying anything. Looking into the rearview mirror at her, she merely rolled her eyes and shook her head. I didn't blame her. He had been having nightmares for some time and wouldn't own up to it.

"Want to drive for a while?" I asked, causing Sam to slightly scoff.

"Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind," I said.

"Can I drive?" Eris asked as she leaned forward so that she could see both of us as she talked.

"I don't think so," I said, causing her to roll her eyes again and look to Sam.

"Look, man. I know you're worried about me. I get it. And thank you, but I'm perfectly okay," he said, causing Eris to shake her head and give him a pointed look. He merely gave her a look himself before shaking his head and grabbing the map on the dashboard to have a look.

"Alright. Where are we?" he asked.

"We are just outside of Grand Junction," I replied, causing him to nod and continue looking at the map. It was silent for a second before he sighed.

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't of left Stanford so soon," he said, causing me to sigh this time.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica…."

"We got to find dad first," he finished.

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after 20 years? It's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do," I said, causing Eris to look between the two of us for a couple of minutes before she spoke.

"So your dad is kind of like a real expert on this kind of stuff? Do you think we might be able to find my mom too?" she asked, causing me to nod slightly.

"Yeah. Our dad is a real good tracker. He might be able to help us figure out what was up with the demons in your town and hopefully figure out what happened to your mom," I replied, hoping she bought the lie I was feeding her. I really didn't want to tell her that her mom was with our dad and that he was her father. She was going through enough as it was trying to digest everything that happened with herself and with Sam. It was also hard enough that we had to teach her at least the basic skills of defending herself against the things that went bump in the night. I let out a small breath of relief when she nodded in understanding, which meant that she had bought the lie. The kid was smart, but she could be gullible to this hunting thing. Sam and I were going to have to be careful.

"It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge…"

"What about it?" I asked as I looked over at my brother.

"There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" he asked.

"Well if it's woods, wouldn't it be something that lives in the woods maybe that he's gone after?" Eris asked, causing me to chuckle.

"And here I thought that you wouldn't be able to grasp the concept of hunter thinking," I replied as I looked at her. She merely stuck out her tongue, causing me to laugh as I sped up the car. Maybe it wouldn't be hard as I thought to teach her.

* * *

**Eris' POV**

"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here. Rough terrain, dense forest, and abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."

"Dude, check out the size of this fucking bear."

"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." I tilted my head slightly as I tried processing all the information Sam was giving out while they looked at a huge picture of a grizzly bear that Dean had noticed. I found it to be a bit odd of why we were going out into the woods, but I trusted Sam and Dean enough to know that they weren't going to put me into harms way. If anything, I had Rain.

"You boys and young lady aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" I looked up from the map that Sam had previously been looking at to see a park ranger walking toward us.

"Oh, no, sir. We're environmental-study majors from UC boulder just visiting with our little sister. We're working on a paper," Sam replied.

"Recycle, man," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes. There goes the cover.

"Bull. You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" the ranger asked, causing the three of us to look at one another slightly before looking back at him.

"Yes. Yes we are, Ranger Wilkinson," Dean replied with a nod as we walked toward the front desk where the ranger had walked to.

"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the 24th. So it's not exactly a missing persons, now, is it?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Not exactly," I said, causing him to nod.

"Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine," he said as he started walking away.

"We will. Well, that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes. This was why I didn't really like guys too much. Their egos or whatnot.

"That is putting it mildly," he replied, shaking his head.

"Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date," Dean said, causing the ranger to look at him for a second before nodding. A few minutes later, Dean had the copy of the permit and we headed for the Impala.

"So what? Are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asked as Dean pocketed the copied permit.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he gave his brother a strange look. I could tell that this was not going to go very pretty if they started arguing.

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's just go find dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it. Especially since it's not just you and me. Did you forget about Eris? Obviously we have to think about Eris' well-being since she can't exactly defend herself like we can. And since when are you all "shoot first, ask questions later" anyway?" he asked.

"Since now," Sam replied before getting into the car. I gave Dean a look, in which he merely shook his head and motioned for me to get in the car. The car was completely silent, which was kind of normal to an extent, but there was so much more hanging in the air at this point. I could feel Sam's emotions and I could feel Dean's worry and concern, but neither were willing to share it at this point. Not that I blamed them. I wasn't one for sharing my feelings and emotions either in front of strangers unless it was a moment I couldn't help.

"Hey!" I snapped my head up at the sound of Dean's voice and saw that he was giving me an irritated look.

"What?" I asked.

"Leave your animal in the car and let's go," he replied as he gave me a look before getting out. Looking at Rain and then out the window, I realized we must have been at this girl's house Dean was wanting to check out and that I couldn't bring Rain with me without scaring the occupants. Rain wasn't exactly on the list of normal household pets and I think Dean wanted to keep a low profile as it was.

"Sorry girl," I said, kissing Rain's nose before getting out and hurrying to catch up with the brothers. Knocking on the door, it opened a few seconds later to reveal a young girl that was about Sam's age or so.

"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam. We're rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. We wanted to ask you some questions about your brother, Tommy," Dean said, causing her to stare at them for a second before looking at me.

"And who is this?" she asked.

"This is Eris. She's looking into maybe working with the ranger service in the next year or so and has been assigned to our duty for the next couple of weeks," Sam replied, causing me to inwardly roll my eyes but put a small smile on my face for show.

"Let me see some id," she said, causing Dean to pull his wallet out of his back pocket and show her some card. I assumed it was a enough to fool her because she gave a nod and opened the screen door for us to come in. I gave a slightly shocked look to Sam since I had never lied or used fake ids before, causing him to give a slight chuckle as he knew what I was thinking and shoved me slightly inside. I was so not going to get use to these guys working like this any time soon.

"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know that something's wrong?" Sam asked as Haley led us into what I assumed was a dining area where a boy about my age sat, ready to eat as Haley started bringing food to the table.

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails photos, stupid little videos, etc. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now," she replied.

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception. Sometimes cell phones can be unreliable," I said, causing her to shake her head.

"He's got a satellite phone too," she said.

"Could it be he's having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked.

"He wouldn't do that," the boy said quickly, causing me to cast Dean a look to be given a doubtful look in return. Something wasn't right.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other," Haley said as she backed up her younger brother's argument.

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked, causing her to nod and motion for us to follow her to her computer, in which she uploaded whatever it was that her brother sent to her so that we could see.

"That's Tommy," she said as she pointed out one of the guys before clicking a button, most likely a short video, that caused it to start playing.

"Hey Haley. Day six. We're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine and keeping safe. So don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow," he said before the video stopped playing. I tilted my head just slightly and focused on the guy that was in the video. There was something strange about this video that didn't make sense whatsoever. There was some kind of element within it that I don't think anyone else saw. I mean, I'm sure it was nothing, but something about it was just making me slightly uneasy. Sam could sense that I was thinking and gave me a curious look, causing me to shrug before turning my attention to the others.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing," Dean said.

"Then maybe I'll see you there," she said, causing Dean and Sam to share a look before looking at her. She merely sighed and shook her head.

"Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning and I'm going to find Tommy myself," she said, causing Dean to shake his head slightly and give her a small chuckle.

"I think I know how you feel," he said, causing me to sigh pinch the bridge of my nose. It always seemed to lead back to their dad. I think.

"Hey. Do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked, causing me to turn my attention over to him. He caught my look and nodded, causing me to understand that he knew what I did about there something being wrong about the video. Haley didn't seem to notice and said that she would before Sam quickly wrote down his email for her. After a few more questions, we said our good-byes before heading back out to the Impala.

"Well that was eventful," Dean said, causing Sam and I to look at one another before looking at him. He caught our looks and gave us a suspicious look. We were definitely going to have to clue him in.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Alright. Two beers and a water."

"What? No beer for me?"

"Too young, sweetheart. Besides, I really don't want you going back to your mom once we find her and telling her I let you drink beer and possibly got you drunk."

"I could be just like you and use a fake id card."

"Don't start." Eris gave me a glare but kept her mouth shut as she took a huge gulp of water before tipping the glass to give her tiger something to drink. That thing still made me shiver just slightly as it could attack us at any time Eris was pissed off, but I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible in order to minimize the danger if she were to ever get really pissed off at me or Sam.

"So Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found," Sam said as he ignored the comments coming from us and pulled some things out of a folder he had been carrying.

"Anything before that?" I asked.

"Yeah. In 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack. And again in 1959. And again before that in 1936. Every 23 years, just like clockwork," he replied as he pulled out his computer.

"Did you figure out what was wrong with the video Haley's brother sent to her?" Eris asked, causing me to give her a look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, causing Sam to turn his computer toward me.

"She's talking about what she possibly saw in the background of the video. Okay, watch this. Here's the clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to my laptop. Check this out," he replied as he clicked a button on his computer. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed something.

"Do it again," I said, causing Sam to do it again but this time just a little bit slower. There was something moving in the shadows behind the tent.

"That's three frames. It's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move. Eris wasn't sure what she saw or felt was wrong with the video, but I saw the wheels turning in her head while she was watching it. She's pretty good at detecting when something's wrong," he said as he gave a nod in her direction.

"Well, she seems to have the same brains you do when it comes to trying to figure something out. She's got hope of actually becoming a hunter with some basic skills. And told you something weird was going on," I said as I hit him in the chest. He gave a slight scoff and shook his head.

"Yeah. I got one more thing. In '59, one camper survived the supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive," he said as he held up a sheet toward me.

"Is there a name?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod.

"So let's go talk to him," I said as I stood up.

"Oh come on. It's night time already and old people are probably asleep. And I'm tired," Eris said. Or more like whined.

"Are you whining?" I asked, causing Sam to stand up and give me a slight glare.

"Dean, don't. Look, Eris, we have to talk to this guy and see if we can't get out of him what may have attacked him and could possibly be behind these other disappearances as well. You don't even have to come with us when we go to speak with him. You can go to sleep in the car and we'll wake you once we're done and have gotten a motel room. Okay? But right now, we really need to go talk to this gentleman," Sam said, causing her to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose, something I noticed she did when she was irritated and frustrated.

"Fine. Whatever," she said, causing me to shake my head at her antics. Too much of a girl. About an hour later, I let out a frustrated sigh as Sam and I walked along a hallway of the building where a Mr. Shaw lived. We had just finished interviewing him about the night he survived this kind of attack and it just didn't make any sense.

"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls," I said.

"So it's probably something else. Something corporeal," Sam said, causing me to look at him kind of funny.

""Corporeal?" Excuse me, professor," I said.

"Shut up. So, what do you think?" he asked as he gave me a glare.

"The claws, the speed that it moves….it could be a Skin walker or maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it," I replied with a slight mockery in my voice of the word. Sam gave me a glare and I merely rolled my eyes before heading out to the car. Checking on Eris, I chuckled as she laid stretched out across the back seat, her head nestled in Rain's fur as she slept soundly. I didn't blame her. She was not use to this kind of lifestyle and having to be on the constant go was probably a strain on her. But I would never admit to anyone, not even Sam, that I was worried about how she was handling it. Big brother instincts I guess. Rain slightly lifted her head as if she sensed someone around, but merely let out a big yawn when she realized that it was only me. Shaking my head, I moved toward the back of the car and made sure that no one was around before opening it. Flipping open the trunk, I began to shove things into a bag.

"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there," Sam said as he appeared at my side.

"Oh yeah? What are we going to tell her? She can't go into the woods because of a big, scary monster?" I asked with slight sarcasm.

"Yeah," he replied, causing me to sigh.

"Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not just going to sit this out. NO. We go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend," I said as he gave an irritated growl.

"So finding dad's not enough? Now we got to baby-sit too? We're already having to look after our 16 year old baby sister, Dean. We have enough problems on our hands with trying to find dad and trying to keep her safe since she can't really defend herself against any of this," he snapped, causing me to give him a look. He looked back at me as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, throwing the bag at him before getting into the car. Looking to the backseat, Eris was still sound asleep and I was grateful for it since I didn't want her to find out about us being her brothers by Sam's yelling. Even though he was right about us already having to look after her, I couldn't just let these people go off into the woods by themselves with this thing. There was no way in hell I was going to let them do it.

* * *

"You have really bad taste in picking breakfast."

"It's the best I can do on short notice, sweetheart. Sorry it isn't up to your home cooked standards."

"Do you two always have to squabble about everything?"

"Shut up, Sam." Eris and I looked at one another with slight glares before I turned my eyes back to the road as we headed to meet up with Haley and her guide before they took off.

"Definitely one of a kind," he said, shaking his head as he took the garbage from this morning's breakfast from Eris and stuck it into an empty bag. For a kid who loved just about every kind of food, she was one hell of a picky eater with fast food. Especially since she had never had fast food before in her entire life. Welcome to the life of hunting.

"Looks like they're already to leave," she said as she leaned forward and pointed out the window, causing Sam and I to look at the three people watching us pull up.

"Got room for three more?" I asked as we got out and walked over to where they were.

"Wait. You want to come with us?" Haley asked as she gave us a skeptical look.

"Who are these guys?" the guy asked.

"Apparently this is all the Park Service could muster up for the search and rescue," she replied with a bit of sarcasm.

"You're rangers?" the guy asked.

"That's right," I replied.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" she asked, causing me to look down at my attire and chuckle.

"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts," I replied as I made my way toward my siblings.

"Oh, you think this is funny? It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother could be hurt. And you've got a young girl with you that doesn't need to be here. And I should shoot that thing right now. That's a wild animal and it could attack us," the guy said as he gave me a pointed look before looking at Eris and Rain. Looking to my baby sister, I saw the anger flash through her eyes as Rain growled slightly and knew I had to intervene before something bad could happen.

"She's got papers to have the tiger. She's had it since she was about 2 and it's not wild. It was raised in captivity and is very affectionate. Rain won't harm you so long as you don't do something stupid to her owner. And you threaten to shoot her one more time and I'm not going to stop what Eris is going to do to you if you do. And besides, we know how dangerous it can be. We just want to help them find their brother, that's all," I said, shooting him a glare before walking back toward Sam and Eris. Eris was seething but she kept her mouth shut and turned to follow Sam as I shot her a look. Boy was this going to be an eventful trip. About half an hour later, the six of us and Rain found ourselves in the middle of the wood area following what I guess was the guide's, who name was apparently Roy, judgment of navigation.

"So, Roy, you said you did a little hunting," I said.

"Yeah. More than a little," he replied.

"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" I asked.

"Mostly buck. Sometimes bear," he replied, causing me to chuckle softly.

"Tell me. Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" I asked, giving him a slight look before walking ahead of him. However, he grabbed the back of my jacket by the neck and yanked me back, causing Rain to let out a ferocious roar that had him letting me go in seconds.

"What are you doing, Roy? Tempting fate with the kitty?" I asked a bit cockily. Although I was rather shocked by Rain since she never let out one of those roars unless it came to something trying to hurt Eris. He merely picked up a stick and slammed it down, a bear trap clamping up around it as he gave me a smug look.

"You should watch where you're stepping, ranger," he said before walking ahead of us. I merely shook my head and continued on my way.

"You didn't pack any provisions. You're carrying a duffle bag. You're not rangers, so who the hell are you?" Haley asked as she stopped me. I glanced over at Sam and Eris and gave them a slight nod, causing Sam to nod his head and usher Eris ahead of him. She looked at me before grasping slightly onto Sam's jacket and following him.

"Sam and I are brothers and we're looking for our father," I said as I turned back to look at Haley.

"And the girl?" she asked.

"The daughter of a friend of my father's. Her mom's missing too. They might be here but we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat," I replied, causing her to give me a look before sighing.

"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" she asked.

"I'm telling you now. Besides, that's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman. Ever. So we okay?" I asked. She stared at me for a second before nodding.

"Yeah. Okay," she replied.

"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" I asked as I pulled out a bag of peanut m&m's from my pocket. I gave her a quick smirk before walking in the direction that the others had gone in. Catching up to them, Eris gave me a look, causing me to shrug and hold out the bag to her. She merely shook her head and pet Rain's head.

"This is it. Blackwater Ridge," Roy said as he stopped a few minutes later.

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked.

"35 at minus 11," Roy said as he took a fancy looking gadget out of his vest pocket and looked at. Standing next to Sam, I looked around.

"You hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod, causing Eris to give us a confused look.

"I don't hear anything," she said.

"Exactly. Not even crickets," I said.

"I'm going to go take a look around," Roy said, causing us to turn around to look at him.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself," Sam said, causing Roy to chuckle.

"That's sweet. Don't worry about me," he said before walking off ahead of us. Eris gave a mumble and I chuckled, causing her to roll her eyes as she knew that I had caught her wanting to give him a piece of her mind. Not that I blamed her. I wanted to rip this guy apart for acting so cockily with something he didn't understand, but I wasn't about to frighten Haley or her brother Ben.

"All right. Everybody stays together. Let's go," I said as I started off in the direction Roy had gone, the rest of them following me. We may have only been walking for a short period of time before the shout of Roy came.

"Haley! Over here!" Sam and I looked to one another before we took off after Haley and her brother as they ran toward the sound of Roy's voice.

"Oh, my god," she said as she stopped short. Appearing next to her, I swore slightly as I saw the disaster of the campsite where there was no doubting that her brother Tommy and his pals had been there.

"It looks like a grizzly," Eris muttered, causing me to shake my head and look over to Sam. I could tell that he was thinking the same thing. There was no way that this was a simple grizzly attack.

"Tommy! Tommy!" I turned around to face the camp site again as Haley started shouting for her brother, which caused Sam to try and keep her quiet.

"Why?" she asked as she gave him a look.

"Something might still be out there," he replied. I took another look around the campsite and was about to say something when I felt a tug on my jacket and turned to see Eris staring at the ground. I made to say something, but she beat me to it by pointing to the ground where there seemed to be a track. I followed it slightly and realized that this was definitely not a grizzly attack at all.

"Sam!" I yelled, causing Eris to give me a puzzling look. I made to say something to her when Sam appeared and knelt down next to me where I had been examining the tracks.

"Eris found this trail leaving from the campsite. The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. It's weird. I'll tell you what. It's no Skin walker or black dog," I said as I stood up.

"So what do…" But I held up a hand as I saw Eris falling to the ground, Rain quickly rushing to her side as she held her head in her hands with a whimper.

"Eris?" I asked as Sam and I quickly went to her side. She didn't say anything as she let out a slight cry.

"What's wrong with her?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," I snapped as I tilted her head back slightly as she started to come to. She let out a whimper and let her hands fall to her side as her eyes started coming back into focus despite the tears falling down her face.

"Hey. Are you alright?" I asked.

"My head hurts," she whispered, causing me to give Sam a look. He could only shrug as he didn't know anymore than I did.

"Do you get headaches a lot?" I asked, causing her to shake her head slightly.

"It started the day my neighbors went crazy," she replied as she wiped at the tears. I looked at my brother and I could tell that he was just as confused as I was. Something was wrong with this girl but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

**Eris' POV**

My head was pounding beyond all belief as Sam helped me to my feet, keeping a good grip on me since I was so dizzy. I had had another one of those stupid vision things like the night I was attacked back at home, but I wasn't about to tell them that. They would just think I was crazy.

"Dean, maybe this wasn't such a hot idea to bring her with us," Sam said. Dean was about to respond when the distant call for help rang out.

"Help! Help me!" Turning my head toward the campsite, I saw Roy take off into the woods, which caused Dean to swear and pull out his hand gun before taking off after him.

"Come on," Sam said, grabbing onto my waist to keep me steady as we took off after the others. It seemed like the sound kept getting farther and farther away until it stopped, causing us to halt our movements. I felt like was going to die with my head pounding so hard.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asked as she looked around. Sam seemed to take in the surroundings before his grip on me tightened and he started moving backwards.

"Everyone back to camp. Now," he snapped, causing everyone to hurry as quickly as they could back to camp. However, I could feel something wasn't right as Sam slowed his movements and gently set me down.

"Our packs," Haley said, causing me to look around the campsite the best I could from my position on the ground to see that the packs, including our duffle bag, were nowhere to be seen.

"So much for my GPS and my satellite phone," Roy said.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked.

"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help," Sam said as he looked around.

"You mean, some…some nut job out there just stole all our gear?" Roy asked in somewhat disbelief. I didn't blame him since I was kind of unsure, but I knew that it was something unnatural as Sam hoisted me up onto his hip like a child and carried me over to where Dean was at. I guess he knew my head was still severely pounding or something and wanted to keep me in his line of sight at all times.

"I need to speak with you…in private," he said, causing Dean to nod and walk slightly away from the campsite in order for the words to be exchanged not to fall on the civilians ears. And I couldn't believe I was saying civilian since I was merely a civilian myself.

"Okay. Let me see dad's journal," he said, gently setting me down as he looked over at Dean. Dean raised a questionable eyebrow but nevertheless took the journal from where it was hidden inside his jacket. Sam took it from him and flipped through it until he came to a certain page.

"All right. Check that out," he said as he showed the both of us. I tilted my head in confusion as I tried to decipher what was actually on the page. Dean, however, seemed to know what Sam was getting at.

"Oh, come on. Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west," he said.

"Think about it, Dean. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice, etc.," Sam said.

"Great. Well then this is useless," he said, holding up his gun. Sam merely scoffed and started heading back toward camp.

"We got to get these people to safety," he said, causing Dean to sigh and rub his face in annoyance.

"What's a wendigo?" I asked as I was still confused as to what was going on.

"It's kind of like a human eater. Cannibalism basically," he replied, causing me to flinch in disgust at the thought.

"Gross," I muttered as I shook my head and quickly followed Dean back to the camp area where Sam was trying to get them out of there.

"Alright. Listen up. It's time to go. Things have gotten…more complicated," Sam said.

"What?" Haley asked as she looked at him in somewhat disbelief.

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it," Roy said, causing me to roll my eyes. I could tell that this guy was not going to end up alive at the end of this.

"It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you'll just make it mad. We have to leave. Now," Sam said as he gave Roy a look.

"One, you're talking nonsense. And two, you're in no position to be giving orders," he said.

"Relax," Dean said as he stood by to jump in incase something were to start between his brother and the hunter. If I was Sam, I would have already beat the guy's head in for being such an asswhole, but I wasn't about to say anything and get myself into trouble.

"We never should have let you come out here in the first place. I'm trying to protect you," Sam said as he gave a small sigh of aggravation.

"You? Protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night," Roy said as he got up into Sam's face.

"Oh brother," I muttered as I shook my head. And here I thought Dean was the stupid one.

"Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you. And it's going to hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid, sorry ass out of here," Sam said, causing Roy to look at him for a split second before laughing.

"You know you're crazy, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. You ever hunt a Wen…" My eyes widened as Dean shoved Sam away from Roy as he continued to laugh.

"Rain," I snapped, causing Rain to growl go into a defensive position between Sam and Dean and the stupid guide. I don't know why I did it, but I felt I had to after everything that had happened so far. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they stared at the pissed off looking feline that was ready to lunge at my command. Nobody seemed to want to make a move.

"Call off the cat, girlie, and I won't shoot it," Roy said as he snapped out of his shock and pointed the gun at Rain. Rain merely snarled and stared him down.

"Try it and they won't find your body," I said.

"Stop. Stop it. Everybody just stop," Haley said as she came to and looked horrified at the situation at hand. I watched as Roy cocked the gun, but I remained in my position as did Rain.

"I'm warning you, girlie. Call off the cat," he snapped.

"Then stop being an asswhole and I might consider it," I said, causing Sam to sigh in frustration.

"Eris, call off Rain. There's no use in having a dead tiger on our hands. You'll be lost without Rain. We've got bigger problems at hand. Come on. Don't let him tempt you," Dean said as he cautiously moved out from behind Rain. I stared at him for a second before looking over at Roy.

"You got lucky. Down, Rain," I said with a sharp whistle, causing Rain to growl slightly but nevertheless move to my side.

"Look. That's enough. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him," Haley said, trying to bring the subject back around to the situation at hand. Dean looked to Sam and even though their lips were not moving, I could see that they were contemplating on staying. And with the sigh that escaped from his lips, I knew that was the answer.

"It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves," he said.

"How?" she asked, causing Dean and Sam to look at one another before setting to work. About an hour later, I sat in front of a camp fire that Haley had made with Haley, her brother Ben, and Rain while Sam and Dean were finishing up protecting the campsite to keep the Wendigo out and not harm us.

"One more time, that's….?"

"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The Wendigo can't cross over them," Dean said, causing Roy to start laughing.

"Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy," I said as I gave him a dirty look. I really wasn't liking this and with the fact of Roy being a complete dick, it wasn't making me feel any better that he was still here. Seeing that there wasn't much talking going on or anything happening, I got up and moved past Roy to where Sam was sitting on a log. I merely sat down and leaned against him for comfort, causing his arm to go around me slightly. I had barely known the two guys for a couple of days, but I was slowly beginning to trust them. It was slightly strange.

"You want to tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" I looked up as Dean sat down on the other side of his brother.

"Dean…"

"No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. I think Eris would agree even if she's only known you for a couple of days. I'm suppose to be the belligerent one, remember?" he asked, causing me to snort with laughter.

"I'll vote yes to that," I said with laughter as he gave me a slight mocking glare.

"Hey. No comments from the peanut gallery," he said, causing me to stick my tongue out at him.

"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?" Sam asked, bringing Dean and I back to the subject at hand as we looked back at Sam.

"Yeah, you're probably right. To tell the truth, I don't think dad's ever been to Lost Creek," he replied.

"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find dad. I mean, why are we still even here? Dad isn't the only one we're looking for, Dean," Sam said as he gestured to me. I knew Sam was right, but I wasn't so sure about the whole getting the people back to town and hitting the road without taking care of the problem. It didn't seem right. I watched as Dean stood up and took out his dad's journal before kneeling down in front of us with it.

"This is why. This book. This is dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know. Saving people and hunting things. The family business. Eris just happens to have fallen into our laps and we've also got to take care of her to ensure her safety since we don't know what any of those bastard demons want with her," he said as he gestured to me. Ok. Now I was starting to feel kind of out of the loop since I was no expert in any of this whatsoever.

"That makes no sense. Why…Why doesn't he just call us? Why doesn't he tell us what he wants or tell us where he is?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. But the way I see it, dad's given us a job to do, and I intend to do it. Including teaching Eris to defend herself until we can find her mom," I replied, causing Sam to sigh and shake his head.

"Dean…no. I got to find dad. I got to find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about," he said, causing me to sigh and give him a look. I wasn't feeling much better about this with my mom missing, but I was doing the best that I could. He wasn't alone on feeling empty.

"Sam…"

"Eris, it's all right. Ok. Look. Sam, we'll find them. I promise. Listen to me. You've got to prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while. And all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's going to kill you. You got to have patience, man. I can see it in Eris' face that she's hurting about her mom being missing. And my heart goes to her, but she's got to have patience too. Her mom could be anywhere, Sam. Anywhere. Just like dad," he said as he reached over and ruffled my hair. I gave him a glare, but I knew he knew I was angry with him. He had hit right on the spot that I was hurting, but I was trying to have patience the best that I could.

"How do you do it? How does dad do it?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother.

"Well, for one, them. I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable," he replied as we all looked over to where Haley and Ben were gathered around the fire. What I wouldn't do to see my mom again if we could get out of this nightmare. I knew that my life was screwed to hell right now, but maybe finding my mom would make it all better again. I hoped.

"And I'll tell you what else helps. Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can," he added, causing me to giggle as Sam cracked a small smile. I was about to say something when the same shouting rang throughout the woods again.

"Help me!" I clung slightly to Sam's jacket as we stood up, the shouting continuing. God how I hated this.

"Please! Help!"

"It's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool. Stay put," Dean said as he cocked his gun, causing me to whimper just slightly as Sam pulled me close to him.

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy asked with a bit of sarcasm, causing me to seriously want to throw something at him. Now was not the time to be stupid or arrogant or anything else that would get us killed.

"Hel…" But the sound of a man screaming and a creature growling caused me to bury my face into Sam's chest in fright.

"Sam, make it stop," I said.

"I want, Eris. Believe me. I want to," he said. Dean made to say something when the growling seemed to be upon us as I heard a whooshing sound surround us, causing me to shriek as Roy began shooting off rounds. Somehow I think he managed to hit it, causing him to run off toward it.

"Roy, no!" Dean yelled as he took off after him.

"Stay here. It's alright. I promise," Sam said as he gave me a look before hurrying after his brother. I tried to keep from crying as I sank to the ground and clung to Rain for comfort, but it was too hard as I heard the shouting from the far distant. I couldn't believe this was happening. Something was trying to kill us and it sure in hell wasn't letting us leave so easily. We were going to die. No doubt about it.

* * *

**Sam's POV**

"Do you think we're going to make it out alive after what happened last night?" I looked up staring at my dad's journal while I was sitting against a tree as Eris sat down next to me with a slightly frightened look. I didn't blame her. She didn't grow up in the environment that Dean and I had. Our baby sister had actually grown up with a normal life. Normal that was until a couple of days ago when she ran into demon possessed neighbors. And I couldn't believe that Dean and I were calling her our baby sister. If it weren't for the picture that Dean had shown me that one night, I wouldn't have remembered that we had a younger sister. I had been too young to remember, but every ounce of me right now was screaming to protect her from any harm.

"I don't know. I've never actually hunted a wendigo," I replied, causing her to nod.

"Dean says they're like cannibalistic," she said, causing me to nod this time.

"They were once human. But feeding on human flesh has a way of turning you into something you never dreamed about in your entire life. I guess the speed and such came from eating all of that," I replied, laughing a little bit when she grimaced.

"Is there any way I can just forfeit all of this and let you guys continue doing it so that I can go home?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Sorry, Eris. We can't let you go home. Your mom evidently left on her own, in what appeared to be a hurry, and with what happened with your neighbors, it's just not a good idea for you to go home right now. Once we get out of here, Dean's sure as hell going to want to start you on some basics, which I would have to agree with. You need to know at least how to handle a gun full of rock salt and some basic moves to defend yourself if something were to happen," I said with an apologetic look. She seemed to understand and was quiet for a minute before speaking.

"Hey Sam. Is it possible for someone to have memories?" she asked, causing me to give her a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Like pictures and memories or like the future. Like predictions or something," she replied.

"Like psychic ability?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

"Not that I know of. I've never really heard of anyone with such a thing. Why do you ask?" I asked as I looked at her in curiosity. She was silent for a moment as I could see that wheels were turning in her head before she shook her head and gave me a look.

"Just curious," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow at the lie she was trying to feed me, but I didn't say anything. My brother and I had only known her for a few days and she was still learning whether or not she could trust us, which I was hoping she could do, but I still wasn't going to push her to tell me what was on her mind if she didn't want to. I would wait until she was ready to say something.

"Come on. Let's get back to the others. We might have a chance to get the hell out of here," I said as I got up and offered my hand, which she took and allowed me to pull her to her feet. Giving Rain a pet on the head, I ushered her back to where everyone was trying to figure out what to do next.

"Hey. So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, want to kill this evil son of a bitch," I said as I looked over to my brother, who nodded.

"Well, hell. You know I'm in," he said, causing me to nod and pull out my dad's journal to flip to the page about the wendigo.

""Wendigo" is a Cree Indian word. It means "evil that devours"," I said as Haley and Ben looked at the book with interest.

"They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter," Dean said.

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asked.

"Feeding on human flesh. Cannibalism to survive," Eris replied as I nodded, glad to know she could pick up and put together the pieces without even being prompted or told to in order to figure something out.

"Eris is pretty much on the money. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving and cut off from supplies or help. He becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp," Dean said as he elaborated on what Eris had said.

"Like the Donner Party," Ben said.

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities such as speed, strength, immortality, etc.," I said.

"If you eat enough of it, over years you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry," Dean added.

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley asked.

"Don't some animals or creatures hibernate or stock up on food just enough for the winter? Like they can go weeks or months without food?" Eris asked, causing me to nod. She was a damn smart kid for only 16.

"Right again. More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates, as Eris pointed out, for years at a time. And when it's awake, it keeps its victims alive. It, uh…stores them so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. And we got to track it back there," Dean replied.

"Well, were there any mines or such on the map you were looking at the other day, Sam?" Eris asked as she looked over at me. I gave her a look before looking over at my brother.

"What are you getting at?" he asked.

"Well you said that these creatures are sometimes Indians or miners or whatever. Maybe there is an abandoned mine or something on Blackwater Ridge," she replied, causing me to give her a look of disbelief. For a kid who didn't know much about demons and creatures and things that go bump in the night other than what she read in text books, she was pretty fucking smart on the whole thing after learning just a tiny piece of information. Dean seemed to be impressed as well as he gave me a look of slight shock.

"She's got a point," he said as I nodded.

"So how do we stop it?" Haley asked.

"Guns seem to be useless. Roy proved that last night," she said as I nodded.

"Guns are very useless in this situation. So are knives. Basically, we got to torch the sucker," he said as he held up a fire can that had been left over from the torn apart campsite. I could tell that there were looks of apprehension on the siblings' faces as well as Eris', but there was no doubt they were determined to get rid of this bastard like we were. About 20 minutes later, we set out in search of the wendigo, keeping as close together as possible.

"Sam?"

"What's up, Eris?" I asked as I looked at the tiny female sticking close to me while Dean led the group up ahead.

"I'm worried," she replied, causing me to chuckle slight as I nodded.

"We all. Especially Dean and I. We want to get everyone out safely while also trying to kill this son of a bitch," I said, causing her to shake her head.

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about Rain," she said, looking down to her side where Rain was keeping close.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because if that Wendigo attacks, Rain's going to attack back," she replied, causing me to give her a slight look of confusion before I realized what she was saying. Rain was very protective of Eris, as she had shown in the past, and Rain would die to protect her. I could tell why Eris was afraid of what could happen. She would be losing her friend and probably the only thing she has besides Dean and myself.

"She do commands pretty well?" I asked, causing her to nod.

"But I don't know if she would listen to me if I was in danger," she replied, causing me to wrap an arm around her shoulder and pull her close to me.

"Rain's only try to protect you. She's been protecting you since you were about 2 like you told us before. She would probably die to protect you if it came down to it. But I'm sure she would listen to you if you really wanted her to stop. She would listen to your commands," I said, causing her to give me a look before nodding slightly to show understanding. I chuckled slightly and looked ahead to make sure my brother wasn't too far ahead. As we made our way further into the woods, though, I was getting slightly suspicious as I was beginning to notice the bloodied claw marks on the tree.

"Dean!" I called, causing my brother to stop and come back to me as I looked around. That stupid son of a bitch.

"What is it?" he asked, causing me to point toward the claw marks.

"You know. I was thinking that those claw prints are so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow," I replied. He made to say something when the growling of the creature could be heard and Eris grasped onto my jacket in fright. The growling seemed to grow closer before Haley let out a scream and tumbled backwards as a body came cascading down from the tree. It was the body of Roy.

"His neck is broken," Dean said as he knelt next to the guy before standing up and looking around as the creature made itself known with the speed and agility it had.

"Okay. Run, run, run! Run!" Dean yelled as he pushed us to run. Every seemed to be running as quickly as possibly, but I got held up as Ben tripped and tumbled to the ground.

"Come on, come on. I got you. I got you," I said as I helped him up and pushed him still in the direction the others had headed. However, Ben and I skidded to a stop as screams erupted throughout the woods that were followed by a roar that I was all to familiar with from Rain. Seeing the bottle that Dean was going to use for lighting the damn thing on fire on the ground, caused me to panic just slightly.

"Dean! Eris!" I yelled. Having no answer returned to me, I swore. There was no doubt they had been caught by the Wendigo.

* * *

**Eris' POV**

"Hey. Hey Eris. Come on, sweetie. Wake up." I let out a small cough and opened my eyes the best that I could to see Sam standing in front of me with a worried expression on his face that changed to relief once he saw that my eyes were open.

"Thank god. Are you alright?" he asked as I fell forward into his arms. My limbs were hurting and my head was bounding from having been knocked cold by the Wendigo. All I remembered was both Dean and Rain trying to protect me and Haley, but it merely knocked Dean out while I ordered for Rain to go. I don't know if she actually listened because I was knocked out by then from a blow to the head.

"Rain," I whispered.

"Right here, Eris. Rain's right here. She came and found me and Ben. Don't worry. She's right here," he said as he turned slightly so that I could see Rain right behind him wanting to get at me. I gave her a small pat on the head before I saw Dean rummaging through a bag, only to pull out two guns.

"Dean, those won't work," I said with a bit of hoarse to my voice as Sam turned to look at his brother.

"Flare guns, Eris. Those will work," he said with a bit of a chuckle. Dean gave a nod toward what looked like an exit, causing Sam to gently hoist me up like a child, not that I weighed that much anyway, and follow behind Dean as Haley and Ben followed with another guy that I think was their brother, Tommy. As we rounded the corner, the growl of the creature caused me to tighten my grip just a bit around Sam's neck as he did his best to hold me and the flare gun Dean had handed to him.

"Looks like someone's home for supper," Dean said, causing me to give him a look despite how much pain I was in. If I wasn't so scared, I would have smacked him, but it would have to wait until later when we got out of this ridiculous mess.

"We'll never out run it," Haley said, causing Dean to turn and give her a look before looking over at me and Sam.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asked, more to Sam than to me.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied with a nod, causing Dean to look back at the other three.

"All right. Listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's going to get you out of here," he said, causing me to give him a questionable look.

"What are you going to do?" Haley asked as if reading my mind. He merely gave her a small wink and headed off down the tunnel in which the growl had come from.

"It's chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby! I taste good!" he yelled as he completely disappeared around the corner, causing Sam to usher the rest of them in the opposite direction.

"Sam, you got to put me down. You can't move as quickly with holding me," I said, causing him to nod and gently set me down before we continued to move, despite the fact that we, as in me, Haley, and Tommy, were in so much pain from the damn creature. As we came to an slight intersection, Sam turned to me and looked at me seriously.

"Get them out of here, Eris. Take Rain with you and move as quickly as you can," he said, causing me to open my mouth in protest. However, I shut it as he gave me a slight glare.

"Now. Go," he snapped, causing me to nod as I helped Haley and Ben the best I could with dragging their brother along the tunnel. I was scared and it didn't help the fact that Rain was growling as she ran along side me. However, I stopped for a slight second when I heard the roar of the creature and the sound of the flare gun going off.

"Sam!" I yelled.

"Come on. Hurry. Hurry! Hurry! Let's go," he said as he came into view and ushered us the best that he could in the direction that we were going. Looking behind me, I let out a scream as I saw the creature coming straight for us.

"Come on. Come on. No! Damn it! Get behind me!" he said as we turned a corner only to come to a dead end. He pushed us behind him and I grasped the back of his jacket with a whimper as I saw the creature come into view with a roar.

"Sam," I whimpered as it closed in on us.

"Hey!" The sound of a gun going off caused me to shriek as the creature burst into flames, Dean coming into view with the flare gun raised at aiming point. I watched as the creature screamed in agony before it fell to the ground completely on fire and burning to ash and Dean looking to us with somewhat of a smug look on his face.

"Not bad, huh?" he asked, causing me to shake my head at his cockiness. Never failed with him no matter what the hell the situation was.

* * *

"I really think you should go to the hospital and be checked out. Especially since you're so young." I gave the paramedic tending to me a hardened glare before looking to Sam, who was standing nearby with Ben while talking to the police, for help. He sensed my want of help and hurried over to check on me.

"I think it would be wise for your sister to go to the hospital to be checked out. She doesn't seem to think so," the paramedic said as he looked to Sam.

"I don't think that will be necessary. She says she's fine and that should be sufficient. If she complains or something about ribs or bruising, I'll be sure that she gets to the hospital," he said as he gave me a look. I merely rolled my eyes but nodded my head nonetheless. The paramedic merely shook his head and headed back off to the ambulance where Haley and Ben's brother was being taken care off.

"Come on," he said as he helped me up and led me over to where Dean and Haley were in conversation.

"I hope you find your father," she said, kissing him on the cheek before putting her arm around Ben and heading toward the ambulance where their brother was. The three of us stood there in silence as the ambulance drove away before Dean spoke up.

"Man, I hate camping," he said.

"Me too," Sam added, causing me to nod in agreement.

"I've never been camping in my entire life and if I'm going to be the main course on that thing's list, no thanks. I camp out in a Hilton for a weekend," I said, causing both guys to look at me before shaking their heads. They seemed to be catching on to my little remarks and just shrugging it off.

"Sam, you know we're going to find dad, right?" Dean asked as he looked over at Sam.

"Yeah, I know," he replied.

"And you know we're going to find your mom, right?" Dean asked as he looked over at me. Looking between the two brothers, I found them staring intently at me, waiting for my answer. I wanted to say "yeah right" after everything that had happened so far, but deep down inside, I knew they were going to help me find my mom. They weren't just going to leave me hanging.

"Yeah, I know. We both know," I said as I nuzzled Rain's nose.

"But in the meantime, I'm driving," Sam said as he gave Dean a look. My eyes widened as Dean actually passed over his keys and made his way over toward the passenger side door. Shaking my head, I got into the car as Sam started the engine. I would never understand these boys. No matter how long I traveled with them, I would never understand them. I just really hoped that we would find my mom soon.


End file.
